Would-be teen bomber serving at adult prison

Took device to Jackson County High School

A Pendergrass teen who was convicted as an adult for bringing a bomb to his school when he was 15 will serve the rest of his sentence at a medium-security prison, state corrections officials said.

Andrew Thomas Criswell had been confined at a youth detention facility in Americus, but he was transferred to the adult prison after he turned 17 last week, officials said.

Criswell, who has been detained since he was arrested 17 months ago, will serve the rest of his three-year term at the Al Burruss Correctional Training Center in Forsyth, which supplies work crews for public services.

He could have served his entire sentence in a juvenile facility, but he failed to live up to conditions that he stay on track to earn his high school diploma by December, according to Criswell's defense attorney, Barry King.

Criswell was arrested April 11, 2007, after he walked into the main office of Jackson County Comprehensive High School with a Mason jar packed with gunpowder and threatened to set off the device.

He first was charged as a juvenile, but his case later was transferred to Jackson County Superior Court.

Criswell pleaded guilty in February to possession of a destructive device, false imprisonment and three counts of terroristic threats, and a judge sentenced him to three years of confinement and 12 years of probation.